Can’t get rid of rats

[Farm life101]

hello fellow chicken lovers!
I’ve got a huge rat problem as I’m about to have ducklings hatch under a broody duck. They are in a 10x8 coop that we built and they also have a huge run, I will add pictures. I’ve buried metal sheeting about 2 foot down over the wire because they were squeezing through the wire and getting under and in the coop. They are also underneath the raised wooden area of the coop. I don’t really see them unless I’m in there close to night time but I do see their poop, and it’s everywhere in the raised area. I’ve covered all the places that I’ve seen them getting in the coop, I’ve set traps, stop leaving food overnight and we have an outside cat so I’m at a loss as to what to do now. I would open up the raised area but I have a duck on eggs there so I can’t. Any ideas as to what I can do?? Thanks!

 

[MysteryChicken]

Get some Rat X, it's safe to use around livestock, & only kills rats, & mice.

I believe it uses a type of salt that dehydrates the pests.

 

[RojoMarz]

Even though you remove the feed each night, make sure they are not eating during the day. I like my Ratproof Feeder.

 

[cmom]

I have tried many thing to eliminate rats. I'm not telling anyone to use poison. Trap if you can. I had a coop that was infested and when I renovated the coop dozens of rats poured out from everywhere. I found nests in the ceiling and walls. It was a breeding place. I didn't want to use poison but eventually did. Our barn is behind the coops. I put rat bait stations in the barn with bait of course and put the bait stations in pet carriers up on a shelf so nothing but the rats could get to the bait. There is a partician in the middle of the bait station that the rats have to go around to get to the bait. There were tunnels around the coops and the barn. Since I didn't find any dead rats laying around I assume they went into their tunnels and died. Eventually I stopped seeing any evidence of rats. The baits weren't being touched and I didn't see any more rats. I still keep the bait stations baited. There is a little window above the bait so I can check it often. Good luck...

 

[Farm life101]

No luck with the rat-X they are passing by it I think but not eating it. I’m going to try and find my trail camera to put it there. But now it looks like they are taking shavings into their tunnels so I’m wondering if they are making a nest to make even more rats, yay. Any thing else I could do? I tried to trap them and found no luck with that either

 

[cmom]

I tried many things and still had rat issues until I put the bait stations in the barn. The rats will find it and loved the bait I used and as I mentioned above. I didn't find any dead rats laying around so I suspect they went into their tunnels and died and that Is why I didn't find any dead ones. The rats wouldn't touch the bait that came with the rat bait stations so I bought some different bait from the feed store down the road and it is what they used. Again, good luck...

 

[TOR]

I used bromethalin, had a norway rat infestation that was out of control.
At the time I had pigs and I was using the old fashion wood spring traps which I have used before, but not having much luck. (The rats were eating the pig feed.}
The day the pigs left for processing I cleaned the pens removed any leftover feed waited couple days made sure they were hungry and gave them a meal. That got rid of them.
I do not like poison and still use the wood traps, but when the population gets out of control I poison them.

 

[RosemaryDuck]

The problem with poison is as long as there's literally anything else to eat anywhere they'll always pass it up. Even if there's just a few tiny pieces of corn or feed laying around. You'll probably have better luck using humane traps or quick kill traps. You could try leaving higher value foods mixed with poison (peanut butter, people food) in places only they can reach. Rats are tough pests to get rid of, because as long as there's that 1 mama rat out there she can keep having litters of 12+ and adding back to the population.

 

[Folly's place]

Rats are very smart, and no trap will catch all of them. We had rats invade our coop years ago, and they killed three nice bantam pullets at night, in addition to eating feed and eggs. It took bait stations and removing an insulated wall to get rid of them.
Mary

 

[Egghead_Jr]

Yup, bait stations. The only way to go in my opinion. That's because I've been inundated by rats before. Used tamper proof (exterior use) bait stations with chunx bait. A decade later and never had a problem nor has there ever been an unintended victim of poison. So yes, I'm saying use poison. Chunx bait in an exterior bait station.

edit to add- if you see holes you are already inundated and it will get worse. I started with the slow acting to rid the initial population. They carry poison to burrow to store and feed. After that 4lbs pail was used up moved to the fast acting. This stops new rodents from taking up home in area. Rats are wary. It will take days if not a week until you see the bait being taken then it goes fast. Once the population is dead you'll note times of year when the bait is being taken more. I keep up on checking stations spring and fall as that's when it's being used up fairly fast. Don't worry much about it summer and winter just ensure fresh bait is in it at start of those seasons.